Friday night, I came home from dropping my girls off at a birthday party and bringing back Elijah’s BFF to find my door sitting wide open. I figured that Scott was bringing the tree in and getting it set up, but as I got closer, I realized that our neighbour was standing just inside our door. The tree was still sitting on the porch… but she was holding two clear plastic bags full of beanie babies. This sweet lady has teenage sons, and has brought us all sorts of things this past year- baseball gloves, basketball and hockey jerseys, race tracks and cars. I told her how excited the girls would be, and thanked her on my way in. As I went inside, I saw two more huge bags full of beanie babies already in the living room! She GAVE my kids over 100 beanie babies, in mint condition! (other than the two snakes which her boys must have actually played with! :)

When I asked Keona why it looks like her eye is swollen here- she said she was trying to make the same face as the tiger… strange little girl…

Tags intact, with plastic protectors…

I kept it a secret from the girls until Saturday morning. When I dumped the bags out on the table, they each quickly chose their favourites, and to my surprise- there were no fights!

Keona took all the cats and dogs.

Charity took all the bears.

Eve took all 3 pigs, along with the hippos and bull.

Ella claimed the Dalmatian.

The boys, took all snakes, other reptiles, amphibians and dinosaurs.

Prayer… took all the leftovers.

What a huge blessing that was for my kids!

I told Keona that she owes Aunty Sarah quite a few beanie babies… When she was about Ella’s age, while she was napping in her Auntie’s room – she decided to pull down all of Sarah’s beanie babies, and rip off each and every tag. This was back when people were collecting them, and they were worth money… Oops!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

A wise man once said, “Everything on purpose.” What is your purpose? Why do you bother existing? What is worth all this effort? I wonder if you can stand these questions. I wonder if you can survive this post, if not on purpose.

Purpose builds everything. For everything is built on a purpose. Nothing was ever built without being fuelled by purpose. No one sweats or bleeds, for a cause, unless that cause is worthy. No one battles an enemy, risking their life, or risking their chance to see that enemy’s defeat, without first deciding to do it. Is your life built and being built on purpose? Is that purpose worth your life?

A mother spends herself dry on purpose. There is no purpose quite so revealing on this planet as the mother’s purpose. What do you purpose for your children, mother? Are they for you; or are you for them? Or, are you and your children for a purpose?

We can go on through life tossed like a canoe in a hurricane, because we set out to sea without purpose. Remember what you are, little paddlers, as you gaze upon an endless horizon of open water. It is a long trip without reason to reach the destination. Yet to know that each time you press that paddle into the endless, effort-sucking strife of life, you further yourself towards your purpose, makes each stroke worthy of fullness. I cannot see shore, as yet. Nevertheless I purpose to reach it at whatever cost. Do you have a purpose that is worth crossing an ocean in a canoe for? Though we would like to fancy ourselves a little god, we are so tiny and frail as the canoe crossing the ocean.

So what’s your purpose? Why heed that evil alarm clock in the morning? Is your purpose worth getting up for? I watch a mother burn her candle until the early morning in effort, for a purpose. Find such a purpose. Find something worthy of you, worthy of your life.

Are you worthy of you? This is a deep lie of our society. “If you live for you, you will find fulfillment in your purpose.” Liars. No one ever served himself and found it worthy. No one ever spent their last breath and passed out into eternity glad they had wasted every minute away self-pleasing. Be honest, you are not worthy of that investment.

When all is spent from you, and you blink your last blink, inhale for the final breath, and your eyes set a gaze into the abyss of death’s unknown, you will think to yourself at the last, and maybe state to those around you as you pass, “What a waste I am. No, what a waste I was.”

Are you? What is your purpose?

Happiness is not a worthy purpose. Happiness is a result of choosing to yield to your purpose. Happiness is a reaction, not a purpose. Living life to produce a reaction is not a life lived for anything. Living life productively will produce the reaction. Therefore invest yourself in something other than yourself, and you will find the fulfillment you desired for yourself. But what is that purpose worthy of your expense, yielding such happiness?

You were made to love God. You cannot ever find your fulfillment on this planet until you yield yourself to its Maker. Stop running. Stop making excuses. You can distract yourself until that final breath if you so choose, but know this, until you obey His purpose, you will not fulfill yours. And until you fulfill it, you will search for fulfillment. First, you must know Him as your Saviour. There is no point to you until you decide to let Him forgive and cleanse you from the inside out. You can drink every drop of pleasure from this planet and keep yourself busy all you want, but you will not escape what you were made for. You were made for God. If you would like to know Him, let me show you how. Don’t be afraid to ask. Please.

But those who know Him, you were made for others. He forgave you so He can love others through you. Until you yield yourself to His purpose, you have no purpose. Suck back suburbia; if you so like, but you will never be full. Waste your days with trying if you want. Only remember the others you sacrificed for your wasting. Remember those you could have helped, had you fulfilled His purpose.

Purpose fills the chasm of your soul, my dear friend. Without it, without Him, we are but vain specks of dust, floating through emptiness on a bigger pile of dust. But with Him, (OH my SOUL, with Him!) is fullness of joy. He is worthy of us. God is the only worthy purpose.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” – Rom 8:28

Thursday, November 26, 2009

In my blogging that is. Life has been busy. Imagine that! Christmas is in less than 1 month now, and I haven’t bought a single gift. Well, I did buy one that I hid in my closet and the boys found already… but other than that! And how I dread Christmas time parking lots… I remember being at Scarborough Town Centre once, and seeing two ladies get into a fist fight over a spot. I always park at the very back. No driving around for 20 minutes to try and save a 2 minute walk to the doors for me!

We’re trying to convince Scott to go to a tree farm this weekend, so that he we can cut down our own tree. I’ll have the girls ask him tomorrow. They always have better luck than I do for some reason!

But now- I’m going to teach my children. I was planning on a picture day today- but it’s so gloomy out. I think it will have to wait!

Now I’m just trying to come up with a fun idea to countdown the days to Christmas with the kids. Not into having 7 chocolate calendars sitting around the kitchen all month.

My sister spent the day with us, and I convinced her to start a blog. She has always been an awesome writer… and I can’t wait to help her get it all setup! I will be sure to blog about it when it’s up and running!

But now… I’m off to bed! As my boys will be up bright and early. Am I the only one who wakes up to a child standing silently at my bedside? Staring me right in the eyes when I wake up? Well, either that or… he’s downstairs attempting to open each box of crackers in the cupboard, with a pair of scissors, and eat every single last crumb before I catch him and he pleads for mercy while promising to never do it again…

Saturday, November 21, 2009

“He flipped the chair sideways so it could be his pulpit.” Jaclyn told me. Then, after a few moments of song leading, he said he was going to preach. I guess, this is his first sermon. I think it was pretty good considering the preparation time allowed, and the enthusiasm displayed. Not a bad message either! Go Jed!

Last weekend, when Jaclyn and Jed were home on Sunday morning sick, watching church online, he asked her, “Why’s that man yellin?” Jac replied, “He’s not yelling, he’s preaching.” “Oh. Him’s preachin.” Jed replied. Apparently he was paying attention. :)

After close consideration, I have to wonder, who was it that taught him to preach? Elijah?…. or Keona? ;)

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. - Psalms 127:3-5

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Well, it’s late. I’m tired… and I wasn’t going to blog today- but here I am!

Usually, I notice when I hit “100 posts” or “200 posts” or even “300posts”… but last night- I posted my 400th blog post! I can’t believe it’s been that long. I only started this blog, because I had funny stories about the kids that I didn’t want to forget, and so that I could share pictures with family and friends that I don’t see that often. Besides, I was horrible at the whole baby book thing! Keona has one filled out to 6 months… the triplets have about 2 pages of one, and Elijah’s still sits on my bookshelf with only his name written in it! At first it was like work, to make myself sit down and blog every night. But now- it has become a habit…and I LOVE it! I look forward to looking back on all of this with my kids some day.

So, here is to post #401!

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No exciting pictures today… So much for Wordless Wednesday! I spent the day teaching, cleaning, and doing laundry. Inspite of the fact that it sounds incredibly mundane- I love my job! Wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I did however, work on my photography blog a bit this afternoon. If you are bored, or have a moment to spare… Check it out. With the help of my girls (I love having so many girls!) I think that I’ve decided on a layout.

I’m at the point now, where I start to feel “lost in it all” and really wish I had a business partner. I’m not good at making all of these decisions… I can’t even decide what colour to make the font! Nevermind what “.com” to buy, or my official “business name,” or what I need to have now, and what can wait… Scott always complains about my indecisiveness… but today- it was even driving me nuts! Crazy! I know…

Anyone want to go into business together? :)

Really, Scott and I make perfect partners. If he could just take a clear picture… I mean a single picture that wasn’t totally blurry… it would be a match made in heaven.

So I’m starting to have my doubts and fears, about all of this becoming “official” in the new year, and really investing myself into it come spring… Right now, I just need to pray for guidance. And someone to tell me what colour to make the dumb font!…

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I hate it when he leaps down an entire flight of stairs, like he is Spiderman or something…

Though, I know where he gets it from- as I nearly got crushed the other morning when Scott decided to jump down the stairs, over me, while I was bent down and NOT looking, and didn’t know NOT to stand up as he was flying over my head…

Such a boy….

Quite proud of himself too…

Speaking of proud… Elijah now refuses to let his sisters help him- with anything! He would rather sit at the piano for an hour trying to figure out a note, than let one of his sisters show him. AND if they dare get it out, before he yells at them to go away- well, he will sit there and play the song wrong, over and over again, just so as not to do what they say.

Once again, kinda reminds me of when Scott wanted to learn piano a few years back… it lasted a whole 5 minutes. Or… until I tried to correct him about something. ;)

As I came in the door with Elijah, while Jed was supposed to be napping- he was instead, standing there whining about how he wanted to go outside and jump off the table too!

I don’t know what I’m going to do when these boys get older. They already wrestle all day long. The other night, they just took turns knocking eachother over, and beating one another with a plastic ruler…

Until Jed got hurt, and Mom yelled, “That’s enough! You’re going to poke someone’s eye out with that thing!” Seriously, it’s not just a saying… I know a child who is blind in one eye from play fighting with his dad big brother, and he accidentally got hit in the eye…

Anyways, after completely flopping dinner… which I haven’t done in a very long time thank you very much- but for some reason my first attempt at deep fried chicken went horribly wrong, and we had pancakes for supper. Yep, pancakes. The kids were happy…

Monday, November 16, 2009

Saturday afternoon, we went to a surprise party for our dear friend-of-the-family, Miss Madge. My Mom had been planning it for months, and I had been looking forward to it for almost as long! I miss our old friends, from our old church, and it was nice to see some of them there.

She was indeed surprised….

Though, I think it may have taken her a moment to realize what exactly was going on! Once she started noticing who everyone was, she was quite excited- to say the least.

I really, really, miss her…

Unfortunately, due to 3 of our kids having fevers, and other symptoms… we weren’t able to stay long. We did get to hear the speeches, and eat some food- which was great!

It was one of those days, where you’re so happy that you have the chance to see these people again, but at the same time, so sad that things aren’t the way they once were.

Anyways, Happy 70th birthday Miss. Madge!!!

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I had all of these great plans for homeschooling this week… we are officially done our first quarter, and I was hoping to start on some unit studies this week. One with missions, another with groceries and budgeting (more for Keona) but they both involved being able to go out.

Today, Keona spent the majority of- in bed. Prayer has a fever now, and Elijah, Jeddy and Ella are still coughing. Not sure what it is, as the fever only seems to last a day… but whatever it is, I’m hoping it passes- quick! For now, they’re taking lots of Vitamin C, D, fresh produce, and water.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Scott and I were sitting up late on Saturday night, after a long day with sick kids, and he was writing a blog. I was bored sitting here, so I decided to try and change the layout a bit so that I could make my pictures bigger. I saved the html coding, and tried out a new template. Little did I know, that even though the html saved the original “template” it DIDN’T save any of my widgets… (all of those buttons and pictures on the sides) Oops… most of which were saved on my old computer. Needless to say, that was slightly frustrating. So, as you can see… we’ve gone for a whole new look!

Please be patient over the next little while, if things randomly go missing, or links don’t work… I’m working on it! :)

I was going to save this picture for the inside of our Christmas cards, but I decided to go ahead and use it on the header…

It will still be on the inside of the cards as well. :)

It makes me smile… Each one of their personalities is showing perfectly in this picture. I don’t mind that Jed is making a funny face… that’s Jeddy for ya!

More from our weekend of sick kids, surprise parties, and steaks, tomorrow night.

Is destiny God? Hath He relinquished His choice to its grasp? Surely destiny bares no rule over the Almighty, neither does plan above attribute.

You are the flaw with fate. For within each movement your hands make, reacts a sequence to follow undetermined by any but you. God’s choice is that you would have choice. Our choice is whether we will allow Him choice. With such, fate’s hands are bound and his eyes blinded. The stars line up in order, and the powers that govern the universe never falter, but man is the variable that removes fate, as we would have it.

Easier explained are failures, if they are simply fate in action through our hands. But if it is as it is, and man can choose to give life or take it, we are without excuse for our failure. I fail because I am flawed, but I fail each time because I choose to allow the flaw to rule. If I would rather allow the God, who gave me the choice, to rule, He would not have failure. Do not blame “It’s just the way I am” for your vile self. You are what you choose to be. Your God be whom you choose, your destiny be with whom you choose.

Have you ever wondered what your destiny is? We ponder the destination so little, thus excusing the moment. But step for a moment outside of your temporary estate, scan the years and picture the destination for the end of your life. Perhaps seated comfortably in your chair, you will slump over in death. Maybe it will come in peaceful sleep, or maybe to a screeching halt. Perhaps at the hand of another, or perhaps in the hand of God, we all find, somewhere in the distant ages of time, our destination for departure.

So what is your destiny? There are only two final destinations, but destiny is more than the destination, it’s also the journey. We want to know more than just the resting place; we want to know what path it will take. Or do we?

Do you want to know the heartaches that will touch your time on earth? How we would cringe the day before, as we expect a coming trial. We would grow unthankful, knowing tomorrow holds rest and peace. How would you deal with knowing that your days were numbered if you knew the number. What a different day tomorrow would be for you if you thought, rather, if you knew that it was going to be your last. Knowing the destiny for each day, and even for life, the “horoscope” would be properly spelled “horror scope” and we would lack what most defines us as human beings, our dependence.

Who holds your destiny? The defining of your destiny is in the answer to that question. Will you hold it; or will you let it go? Must you be God; or will you allow Him to be? The reality is, no person knows a destiny. Yet each decides to hold on to their destiny, or hand it to some equally inadequate person, for fear of allowing God His place in sustaining it. The one who works good deeds to earn heaven or acceptance with God, neither knows what is good, or whether those works are acceptable. Your only hope is to allow the only one who is “good” to hold your destiny in His hand.

The key to the right destination is in the steering of the destiny. For you to choose your own path is like a captain of a vessel, venturing forth out to the ocean, assuming where he is going, blindfolding himself, punching the throttle, releasing his hand from the helm and comforting those aboard that he has everything under control. Liar. You don’t know where you’re going, nor do you have any idea how you’re going to get there. Therefore, if you seek a desirable destination, trust the Lord with your destiny. He alone is capable to guide you and sustain you safely to shore.

There are two destinations to choose from. Lost forever adrift in the open empty solitude of destiny in your own hands. (Thus, hell is never reaching shore, and no hope in sight, forever.) Or, you can let go of the helm, allow God His place in control of your destination, and taste the sweet destiny He has in store for you. Jesus Christ is the way to shore. Stop aimlessly wasting your destiny, too proud to give Him His place at the helm. “No thanks. I’ll be fine on my own.” You will wander aimlessly in the endless sea forever, parched with thirst, scorched without shade, and not so fine on your own. Stop wasting all this life on aimlessly trying to find shore. Let God have your destiny. Rest in His power to bring you to His destination.

So today, choose your destiny.

First, realize nobody’s perfect. You and I, and everyone else have come short of the perfection of God, in that we are all sinners.

Next, understand that without God interrupting your current destiny, you will spend forever aimlessly wandering the abyss of Hell, without hope of escape.

But God, who is beyond good, took our place in death, paid our debt and hell, and has GIVEN us free forgiveness and even offered us a destiny with Him in heaven forever. That’s why Jesus died on that cross, though sinless and the Son of God. He died to pay our debt to justice. He was crucified, buried, and three days later rose from the grave to give a taste and example of our destiny beyond death.

Finally, ask Jesus Christ for that payment to be applied to you. Ask Him for that destiny in His presence forever, and someday He will lead you safely to your new destination; your home in heaven.

Why not ask Christ to be your saviour right now? Why not this moment fix your destiny forever, and rob fate of opportunity to rob you of eternity. Don’t wait, for we have no guarantee of tomorrow or even another breath. Your destiny is in your hands while you live. Will you trust Christ with it?

As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. – Ps 18:30-32

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. – Rom 8:28